Musical notation



(No Model.) Jl W. ROBBERSONI 2 Sheets Sheet 1. MUSICAL NOTATION. No.482,442, lPatented Sept. 13, 1892.

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` J. W. ROBBBRSON.

MUSICAL NOTATION.

N0. 482,442. Patented Sept. 13, 1892.

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si@ La e UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. ROBBERSON, OF BELCIIERVILLE, TEXAS.

MUSICAL NOTATION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482,442, datedSeptember 13, 1892.

Application filed May 19, 1891.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN W. ROBBERsoN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Belcherville, in the coun ty of Montague and State of Texas,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in iVritten Music; andI do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in music notation; and it has for:its objects to provide a sheet in which the tones in their successiveorder of degrees by septenaries oomprising the limit of the human voicefrom low to high pitch or from base to treble will be graphicallyindicated, and also to furnish a means whereby mechanical transpositionof the notated characters may be effected, as more fully hereinafterexplained.

The above-mentioned objects are attained by the means illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a diagram showing myimproved notation. Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a modification in whicheach separate staff is a separate and independent scale of degrees andin which added lines are employed above and below the staff with notecharacters thereon. Fig. 3 is a diagram of my improved notation, showingthe means of transposing the scale in position thereon. Fig. 4 isadiagram of a part of a single staff, showing the repeat characterthereon in two positions and in which dotted lines are employed with twoscales of note characters thereon; and Fig. 5 represents the repeat.character, which is employed when two notes of different pitch are on asingle letter of the staff-as, for instance, both B and B-flat.

Referring by letter to said drawings, the letters J, K, L, and Mrepresent the series of four staffs, each embracing a septenary. Thebase or F-clef stai, forming the lower one of the series, is formed offour heavylines, as at J; the second, tenor or O-clef staff, of fourlight lines, as at K; the third, treble or G-clef stad, of four doublelines, as at L, and the fourth, alto or C and Gclef staif, of two lightand two double lines, as at M, as indicated in the drawings, so thateach staff may be read- Serial No. 393,351. (No model.)

ily distinguished from the others of the series at a glance. The spacesbetween the lines of the staffs may be of any suitable dimensions, butof such relation to each other that the second and third spaces C and Ewill be threefourths of the width of the first space A. As illustratedin the drawings, if the space A is one-half inch in width, the spaces Cand E are three-eighth-inch spaces. It is evident that the wid th of thespaces may be varied so long as the above-named relative proportions aremaintained.

In connection with the lines of the staff I employ what I denominatedotted lines as signatures of half-steps in position parallel withledger-lines, and a series of steps and half-steps (indicated by theletter S) in the respective figures. These extend obliquely across thestaff from the lower lines to the u pper lines thereof from left toright, as indicated, the horizontal portions being on the lines of thestaff and intermediate thereof, as shown, the intermediate portionsserving to indicate the note characters, which occupy the spaces betweenthe lines in the improved musical notation. The degrees of the staff arenumbered in succession from one to seven at the angles of the stepscomprising three septenaries or twenty-one tones with interveninghalf-tones, indicated as dats or sharps by the dotted lines parallelwith the ledgerlines and across the major-steps.

In the modification of my invention shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings thebody of the notation-sheet is provided with loops 4, through which ispassed a vertically-movable notation-slip IV. This has printed orotherwise produced upon it characters corresponding to the characters tobe represented on the lines and in the spaces of the staffs, and bymoving it vertically up or down the characters may be brought into suchrelation to the lines or spaces or the dotted lines between the degreesof the staffs as to transpose the characterization of the notes in amusical composition mechanically and readily. The note characters are ofsuch dimensions that one note will exactly fill half of the space A or aspace equivalent thereto, so that in shifting the transposing-slip W thenote characters thereon will assume their proper positions in relationto the lines and spaces and to the dotted linesintermediate between thedegrees of the sta on the body-sheet.

In connection with the note characters I employ a note character for arepetition, which consists of two crossed lines, as shown in Fig. 5,with their ends of unequal length and having dots near theirintersections.

In the modification of my invention shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings thecharacters indicated byUU having been eiected by transposition andbrought to bearwith the dotted lines therein, of which the notes in thelefthand scale are atted and the repeat characters indicated by Z inposition on second line B, representing both B and B-at being ernployedin this scale, and of which the notes in the right-hand scale aresharped and the repeat character inverted and in position on lthe fourthline F, indicated by Z2, representing both F and F-sharp being employedin said scale.

Having described my invention, what I claim is l. The improvedmusic-sheet having the four staffs graphically indicated, as described,

,the first in broad heavy lines, the next in light lines, the third indouble lines, and the fourth in two light and two double lines, eachhaving spaces of unequal width and dotted lines therein, substantiallyas specified.

2. The improved music-sheet having the repeat character, consisting ofthe cross-lines and dots, arranged substantially as set forth.

3. The improved music-sheet having annotated stai's, as described, thefirst in broad heavy lines, the second in light lines, the third indouble lines, and the fourth in two light and two double lines, eachhaving spaces of unequalwidth and dotted lines in the spaces parallel tothe ledger-lilies, the fourth being inclosed in the brace connecting thetwo lower lines of the treble-stattn and the two upper lines of thetenor-statt, substantially as specified.

JOHN W. ROBBERSON.

Witnesses:

WADE ATKINs, WILLAM T. BIRGE.

